Mirror, Mirror
by Black Amber
Summary: Snow White visits the mirror and asks one question," Why am I unhappy?" To answer the question the mirror must show Snow parts of her past. Snow is also not as naive as she is in the movie. Rated T because it is a little dark. HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Disney, Snow White, The Mirror or anything else.

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It was a dark night and the moon was shining brightly. A dark shape slipped inside a shabby old shed, which lay a couple hundred meters from the castle. Though the outside looked like nobody had been in there for years, the inside was beautiful. There were paintings hanging from the wall and there were six crowns, each resting on their own red cushion. The pedestals they were on were all a beautiful silver.

However the hooded figure barely paused they made their way to the wall opposite of the door they had just come in. On this wall the only thing that hung there was an old mirror. The figure removed their hood, leaving black curls to fall around a face as pale as snow and lips as red as blood. Snow White walked briskly towards the mirror as she let her cloak fall to the ground.

A face appeared in the mirror with a sorrowful expression which quickly turned into an expression of joy at the sight of Snow White.

She smiled back and said, "Hello mirror, it's been a while."

"Oh yes, much too long," agreed the mirror, as he remembered the young, carefree girl that had come running into his room the moment she was married. Her face hadn't changed much; a few wrinkles and creases here and there were the only indication that she had aged, that she had changed from the young, naïve girl she used to be.

Snow White was remembering the same thing as the mirror before letting out a sigh.

"Mirror, I need you to do something for me," she said getting straight to the point.

"Anything," the mirror promised.

She let out another heavy sigh before reciting the burning question she had been harboring for the last couple of years.

"Mirror, Mirror on wall, why am I so unhappy?"

The mirror in turn gave his own sigh.

"I figured this would come up eventually. For me to answer your question, Snow, I must show you bits and pieces of your life. I must warn you that this could prove to be very painful and I don't mean physically. Watching all these images could affect you mentally." He wouldn't tell her but she was his favorite princess partially because he grew up trying to protect Snow from her stepmother and partially because she was the nicest princess he knew.

Snow's expression was grim as she considered the risks and with that she made up her mind.

"I'll do it."

The mirror sighed, "Very well then, I shall start now."

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A/N: So this is the beginning of my new story. The rest of the chapters should be longer, so you can look forward to reading that. Thanks for reading, please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

The first scene was a year before her father's death. A six year old Snow White was asking her father where all the flowers went when it snowed.

"Well, when the snow comes, it tells the flowers that it's time to sleep. The flowers go back into the ground, which is why you always see them turning brown. The flowers then go to sleep in their seed form until spring comes."

"How do the flowers know when it's spring?" Snow asked looking up at her father with confused, blue eyes. Her father chuckled not unkindly at his daughter's expression.

When the snow leaves, all the birds come back, right?" he asked while looking at Snow to make sure she understood. At her nod he continued. "Well, when the seeds hear the birds singing their sweet songs, they start to sprout out of the ground. When they feel the sun's warmth they unfurl and stretch back into the beautiful flowers you are so used to seeing."

Snow White's expression made her look as though she had learned the secret of the universe. Her father gave another chuckle before taking Snow White's small hand. Snow looked up in confusion. Her father didn't say anything; he just started to walk towards the forest. Snow struggled to keep up with his big steps. Snow's father didn't notice untill Snow stumbled and nearly fell into a puddle. After that he slowed down the pace so that Snow could keep up. They stopped at the edge of the forest giving Snow enough time to catch her breath and ask,

"Where are we going?"

"Not that much further, darling. Another 5 minutes at the most."

"Alright."

They entered the forest and as her father predicted, they walked for another 5 minutes. By that time, he had let go of Snow's hand and she was trailing behind him, eyes to the ground, trying not to trip. So when her father came to a sudden stop, she ran right into him.

"Ow," She voiced her displeasure at his sudden stop. She was about to say more but then caught sight of what her dad was staring at. Her eye's widened and her mouth dropped open at the sight of the most beautiful garden she had ever seen. The garden had the most beautiful variety of flowers Snow had ever seen in her whole life. There were daisies and tulips, orchids and lilies. The garden had one big rose bush beside a small patch of snapdragons. All the flowers seemed to have a blue glow around them, making it seem brighter than it really was.

Her father glanced down and her and remarked dryly,

"Trying to catch flies?"

Snow closed her mouth with an audible click, a light pink blush dusting her cheeks. She then realized something was off. Remembering the discussion she had earlier with her father, she voiced her confusion.

"How are the flowers still alive if there is no sun?"

It was true, with the huge canopy of leaves overhead there could be no sunlight seen at all. The only light came from the unearthly glow around the flowers. Snow's father smiled at her question.

"Do you know whose garden this was?"

Snow shook her head, how was she supposed to know whose it was if she had never been here before?

"It was your mother's," he said in a dreamy voice. "She devoted her life to this garden. Every flower here she nurtured from a seedling."

Snow couldn't answer, she was in shock. Ever since her mother's death when she was a baby, her father was loath to bring it up anything that had to do with her. The only thing Snow knew about her mother was from an old picture album that she had found in one of the rooms of the castle. There were pictures from her wedding to Snow's father up to the birth of Snow White. The last picture was one of Snow as a baby, after that there were no more pictures.

She suddenly realized that her father hadn't answered her question. She looked up at her father and repeated her question.

"It's her love of the garden that keeps it alive. Her garden and you. Originally she planned to give it to you, but because of her untimely….death she entrusted me to show you instead."

Snow noticed the pause just before her father said death. She realized how difficult this must be for him and took his hand in hers giving it a squeeze. He looked down in surprise before giving it a squeeze back.

Snow looked back at the garden with all the beautiful flowers and whispered,

"Wow."

"Yeah," her father agreed in an equally soft voice.

They stood like that for the rest of the day. As the sun started to set, Snow's father turned to Snow and said,

"I think it's time to go in now."

Snow yawned and, still holding her father's hand, started off towards the castle. The way the sun shone around their bodies, it looked like a moment frozen in time.

--

As the scene faded out, the present day Snow gave a cry of anguish. Seeing her father again and how innocent she had been was too much for her. The face in the mirror reappeared and watched as Snow fell to the ground, her body racked with sobs. She stayed on the ground for another five minutes, before getting up.

She wiped her face on her sleeve and looked straight at the mirror, who had an expression of worry and understanding on his face. He had seen too many girls go through this only to have their hearts broken at the end of the ordeal.

Snow sucked in all the air she could, trying to control her ragged breathing. Once she got her breathing under control, she forced herself to think about what had just happened. She knew that if she went through with it the memories would only get worse.

She thought about her father, the one person who had always been there for her and her mother, the mysterious woman whom her father loved so much, yet talked about so little. She took this all into consideration and with that information she made one of the hardest decisions of her life.

The mirror saw her eyes harden and hoped he was wrong. He didn't want to put Snow through anymore pain. But, when she told him her answer, he gave a heavy sigh.

"Are you sure?" the mirror asked, giving Snow one last escape route.

"Yes."

With that answer, Snow sealed her fate.

A/N: So that's my second chapter. I have chapter three written up so updates will probably come a little slower depending on how fast I write. I would like to thank my reviewers: Disney Princess3, bluethunder25,


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own. Never will.

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The face in the mirror faded and Snow White watched the scene in the mirror, she remembered what time of her life it was. It was the day she thought her father died; the day he met her step-mother.

Snow remembered that day very vividly. It had been a regular day, just the two of them out for a walk. They decided to take the right instead of the left at the fork in the road. As they were walking they noticed that this area was more populated than the left way, which surprised her father.

"I'd always thought that there was nothing this way," Snow remembered him saying in puzzlement.

Snow was also puzzled but not for the same reasons as her father. There was only one house that she could see and it wasn't all that pretty. But for reasons she didn't understand, he father saw a whole town. She watched as he greeted invisible people, laughing at their jokes, eating their food.

At one point he bought an ice cream cone and gave it to Snow. She wasn't sure what she was supposed to do; pretend or tell him her hand was empty. She decided to surreptitiously drop it on the ground making a compromise between pretending and saying something.

They continued to walk for another 10 minutes before approaching the old house that Snow had seen earlier. As though he was in a trance, Snow's father walked up to the gate and opened it. He seemed to forget Snow was there and let it close in her face. She tried to open it but it seemed stuck and no matter what Snow did to it, it wouldn't open.

She let out a cry of frustration and kicked the door angrily. All that did was make her foot hurt. Then she had a brilliant idea, she would climb the fence! Snow jumped and caught hold of the top of the fence but then she felt like her fingers were being stepped on.

She gave a cry of pain and dropped to the ground. As she sat on the ground nursing her fingers, her father came out with a woman. Her beauty struck her as cruel, unforgiving, and a little scary. Snow then looked at her father and was shocked to see that he looked like he had aged at least ten years.

"Darling this is Aryssa, remember. I have been seeing her for the past few months," he explained at her confused look.

Snow's heart skipped a beat when he said that. The past few MONTHS? It had been only twenty minutes since he went in.

"Um…father? It's only been twenty minutes and-"

Snow's father cut her off.

"What are you talking about Snow? It has been three months since I met Aryssa and you've grown up quite a bit as well. Just take a look."

Snow silently took the mirror he offered and was shocked by what she saw. Her black curls that used to come down to her shoulders now were halfway down her back. She had lost some of her baby fat and she could see her cheekbones a little more.

She looked down to asses her body and she was surprised to discover that she actually had two small breasts poking out underneath her shirt. She also noticed that her skirt came up to her knees and she could almost look her father in the face.

"W-What happened to me," Snow asked, her voice shaking.

"Why nothing darling. Don't you remember coming here with me and waiting outside while I went in and proposed to Aryssa."

Snow could have sworn her heart skipped two beats this time. Proposed, and to Aryssa none the less! Snow had the slightest suspicion that it was all Aryssa's fault. She must have done something, because Snow knew her father swore never to get married after her mother's death.

"I was rather hoping you would be my maid of honor."

Snow was surprised when Aryssa spoke. Considering she didn't remember the past three months, (if they even happened Snow thought bitterly) it wasn't surprising she had never heard Aryssa speak before.

Aryssa's voice was very quiet and sweet but there was something in her voice that Snow didn't like. In fact Aryssa's whole position and demeanor was very threatening. However Snow's father didn't seem to notice.

Snow was curious, what else had she missed in the past "three months". She opened her mouth to say something but Aryssa smoothly cut off Snow.

"Don't you think it's time we headed back, Honey?" She asked her voice quiet but laced with a silent order.

When she looked back at Snow, her eyes seemed to say don't challenge me, or else. Snow had to ask something though.

"We? She lives with us now?" Snow's disbelief was evident in her voice.

Aryssa glared at Snow, her eyes promising certain punishment.

"Of course darling, Aryssa has been living with us for the past month. Are you sure you're ok?"

"Yeah, I just banged my head or something."

_Yeah right_, Snow thought angrily, _I haven't moved from this spot for the past 20 minutes. There is no way it could have been three months._

She noticed that her father and Aryssa had already started home. She started to walk but didn't hurry to catch up with them. She didn't want to listen to them talk about the wedding or have them ask her questions she didn't have answers to. She still couldn't believe that it had been three months. There was nothing to suggest that it was only twenty minutes later. She had grown up, her body was evidence enough. Snow wanted to know what happened between her father and Aryssa. She still wasn't convinced that her father wasn't under a spell or in a trance or a… spell.

Snow almost squealed from delight. That had to be it. Aryssa was a witch. To Snow's six-soon-to-be-seven year old logic it made sense. That was why her father was so different. She needed to tell somebody, but she didn't know who. Her father probably wouldn't listen and it would be suicide to tell Aryssa. Snow sighed. For now she would have to be content with having figured out Aryssa's secret.

--

When they got back Snow started to head for her room until her father called her back.

"Snow, I was hoping that we could spend some time together. You've hardly been around ever since I met Aryssa. You were always in your room or at the garden. And when you did come down you were always so distant."

Snow barely heard him. She couldn't believe it he was talking about the garden in front of Aryssa. She thought that the garden was their secret, nobody else was supposed to know about it. She felt indignation and anger starting to well up in her, but she forced it down. If there was even the slightest chance that Aryssa didn't know what they were talking about, she wouldn't give it away.

"What garden is this honey?"Aryssa's quiet voice cut through Snow's thoughts.

"Um…nothing. Right dad?"Snow said nervously, hoping her father would go along with it.

"Oh, just a garden that Snow takes care of, nothing much."

Snow wasn't sure whether to be crushed that he said the garden was nothing much or scared that he had let too much slip and Aryssa would ask to see it. Fortunately for Snow, Aryssa simply dismissed the idea with a shrug.

They entered the big iron gates that fenced in the castle, which now had innumerable ivy tresses running up the walls. The castle looked so much older, the bricks had a much more weathered look to them than when Snow had seen them last.

As Snow was examining the castle, some movement caught her eye. She turned her head towards it and saw two huge, black crows circling over top of the forest. Snow felt sorry for whatever poor, innocent creature that had attracted the crows' attention. She saw one of the crows dive and Snow suppressed a shiver. No matter what they were doing, crows always scared Snow and these more than any other ones she had seen before.

They started to head into the castle, but Aryssa stopped them.

"Do you think you could show me the garden now?" she asked sweetly.

"I don't think so. It's almost time to eat and Snow needs to get inside," her father babbled out an excuse.

"But it'll only take a moment." If Snow didn't know better she would think that Aryssa was whining. But that wouldn't make sense, if her father was under a spell he would have to listen to her. _Maybe, _speculated Snow, _it takes too much of her strength to keep it up 24/7. _

"No, not right now. I might show it to you some other time." Snow's father was firm in his decision. No matter what Aryssa said, he wouldn't budge. Aryssa finally gave up and they headed in.

After supper, Snow headed up to her room where all the events from today hit her, hard. She lay on her bed, with tears running down her face. She couldn't believe that she was going to have a new mother. What's more she could not accept that it had been three months. She kept going over this in her head, trying to figure it out, but she came up blank every time.

The weather seemed to reflect everything she was thinking. It had started to rain while she was up in her room and had just recently started to thunder. Flashes of lightening could be seen from her window, making the raindrops sparkle with electricity.

Finally she stopped thinking and just cried for everything and everyone. Snow cried for her mother, for the poor animal that the crows most certainly killed, for the three months she lost, three months that could never be replaced. She cried for her father and finally for herself as the rain came down outside her window.

--

Snow watched the scene fade through the tears running down her face again. This memory wasn't as bad as the first one, partly because she was better prepared and partly because she had gone cold at the sight of her stepmother.

The mirror was starting to get exhausted. Producing these memories took up a lot of his strength. He didn't want to stop, but he knew if he didn't stop he wouldn't be able to show any more memories for a week.

He gave a small sigh as he told Snow this. A numerous amount of emotions ran across Snow's face; sadness, relief, anger, and finally acceptance.

"Very well, but I'll be back bright and early." With that she turned around and headed out of the shack.

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A/N: Holy smokes! This has like almost 2000 words and it's like 4 pages long. Geez. I'd like to thank the 110 odd people who read my story and the four people who reviewed my story: Disney Princess3, clara2000, bluethunder25, and Jj.

To answer your question Jj, I will explain why Snow needs the mirror to show her her own memories and why she asked that question. Also I'm sorry this isn't that much of a tearjerker, but I promise you the next one will be much sadder.

I would appreciate it if you guys could let me know if I have any grammar mistakes. I go to a French Immersion School so sometimes I write like I would in French. A big thank you to everyone that is reading my story and remember, reviews are your friends!

I'm sorry it took so long to update, but it might take about a week before the next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, nada, zip. 'Cept the plot.

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Snow walked back slowly, thinking over everything she had seen in the past two hours. She wasn't sure if it was worth going through the roller-coaster of emotions every time just to answer a simple question. _A simple question that I don't know why I asked_, she thought bitterly. Though she wouldn't reveal it to the mirror, she couldn't remember the memories that he was showing. Her mind was riddled with holes and she needed to know what she was missing. Ever since she had woken up to the soft lips of her prince, she had a hard time remembering certain events. What was worse is that she didn't remember some of the most important events until someone brought them up.

Snow remembered someone asking where she had her honeymoon and her mind went blank. She had given the person a vague answer and excused herself as quickly as she could. She then rushed back home to look through the photo albums. It took her a while but she eventually found pictures that suggested that they had spent their honeymoon touring her husband's kingdom. Now that she knew where they had gone, she felt slightly better._ I mean_, she tried to convince herself, _everybody forgets sometimes. _But no matter what she told herself, she still couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else wrong.

She looked up in time to avoid hitting the gate to the castle. She opened it up, noticing that she needed to oil it: the hinges were squeaking. Once inside, Snow lit one of the candles she kept near the door and made her way to her room, her eyes on the floor. If she had looked up, she might have noticed the empty picture frames adorning the wall.

She reached the top of the stairs and turned left. Another hallway stretched out before her and she let out a long sigh at the idea of having to walk all the way to the end to reach her room. With another heavy sigh, Snow made her way down the long hallway.

* * *

In her room, Snow quickly changed into a pale, satin slip and headed towards her vanity table. She sat down and started to brush her, now shoulder length, hair. After she was satisfied that it wasn't tangled anymore, Snow headed towards her bed.

She put the candle on the dresser next to her bed, while she climbed into her bed, under her covers and settled in. Once she had finished settling in, she picked up her book and tried to read. Snow put it down after fifteen minutes of staring at one page, the words swimming in front of her eyes.

She put the book on her nightstand, blew the candle out, and closed her eyes. It seemed to her to take forever to fall asleep, but in reality, she fell asleep in less than ten minutes. Her dreams were filled with twisted visions of Aryssa and her father kissing. Aryssa chasing her, Snow falling down and finally, Aryssa staring down at her, a knife in hand.

Snow woke up with a start. She shook the image of Aryssa from her mind and looked at the clock. 5 o'clock. In the morning. Snow fell back with a groan and tried to fall asleep again. However the gods of sleep were not in a giving mood. She finally re-lit the candle, picked up her book, and started to read. Finally, at a more respectful hour in the morning, Snow put the book down. She went down to the kitchen, grabbed a piece of toast, and headed out. As she made her way to the shack, her steps slowed. The terror from last night was still present and Snow was scared that she would get them again.

_No_, she thought, _I will not be afraid of my memories. I need to know what I have forgotten._ Still she was hesitant when she opened the door, but at the sight of the mirror, all worries were forgotten.

"So you came back." It wasn't a question. "Very well then, shall we begin?"

Snow nodded and watched as the face in the mirror faded into her next memory.

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A/N. I'm so, so sorry. I haven't updated in like a month and I feel really bad. This isn't the sad chapter I promised you. I hate this chapter, there are so many mistakes and it feels rushed but I figured that I should give you guys something. That should be the next one. I'm not sure how long it will be, because I'm going to be babysitting for two weeks and then I'm leaving for another 3. Thank you to everyone that has read it and a big thanks to Disney Princess3 and In Love With Flame Rising. Please review! :)


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